Words like "nerd" or "geek" are stereotypically thought of as derogatory terms, but I find that most people that fall into these social categories use them with pride. I would too, if I could claim either. Being a geek means you are passionate about something and have found a niche. Being a nerd shows intelligence and great precision. I honestly find these types of people to be amazing and love to talk to all kinds of social categories, whether they are band geeks, science nerds, Star Wars geeks, chess nerds, technology geeks, literary nerds, or a combination of many types. These are the type of people that are innovating and building and creating to make our world a better place. Their knowledge and passion is inspiring and exciting.
Unfortunately, I never found a spot on either side of this geek/nerd classification. I like learning about new technology, but when someone starts talking to me about different types of monitors or amounts of gigabytes, I am unable to converse or offer any insight at all. I have watched all the Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel, Harry Potter, and LOTR movies and enjoyed them, but can't list all the characters or remember all the scenes in any of those movies. I enjoy video games, but I don't own several systems or go out and buy the latest games. I don't even know what the latests games are. Even in what people consider my area of expertise, literature, I am no nerd. I actually blew a job interview once because I couldn't tell the interviewers anything about James Joyce or Leo Tolstoy. I know the names and that's about it. So, I'm not even a qualified English nerd.
But I really want to be. That's crazy huh? Everyone wants to be the "cool kids" and I just want to be geek or nerd. I wish I was so excited about a new season that I talked about it for weeks. I wish I was doing my own research or experiment or project, not for work or school, but for the enjoyment of it. I really just want to hold a conversation about some specific topic (whether its bikes or iPhones or plays or beer) without ever being lost or out of place. I guess I'll just have to settle for reading and watching and playing listening to a variety of things and loving them all without geeking out about anything in particular.
No comments:
Post a Comment